Hi Everyone, We’ve published an updated set of FAQs reflecting the latest questions about the Ambassador Program.  If you’re looking for answers or want to be sure you’re up‑to‑date, please take a moment to read the updated FAQ document HERE.  By way of additional updates, we are taking action on requests for further clarity within the backend. Specifically, we’re working on updates to the backend earnings section of your account to make it easier to understand how Royalty and Referral Commissions are calculated. More to come on that end once it’s ready, so stay tuned.  As always, we appreciate your feedback and will keep refining these resources. Feel free to post a follow‑up question HERE. Thank you for being a part of the community and for sharing your feedback.  The Zazzle Team ... View more

It’s frustrating because most of us want to focus on creating and promoting good products, not constantly having to rethink how to navigate a constantly shifting structure. If Zazzle is serious about building a sustainable future for both the company and its creators, a few things could really help: Clarify the model. Decide whether Zazzle is primarily a storefront selling products with artist royalties, or a platform empowering independent creators to build their brands — and communicate that clearly. Mixed messaging only breeds confusion for both creators and customers. Create more transparency. A lot of tension could be reduced if creators had a simple, clear breakdown of how earnings are divided among Zazzle, referrers, and creators — in plain language, without fine print or marketing spin. Support creator visibility. Give creators better tools to build their brand identity within the marketplace, so customers actually know who they’re buying from and can choose to support the artists they love. Stabilize core policies. Frequent, unexplained changes to royalties, fees, and marketing structures undermine trust. If changes must happen, give plenty of advance notice, clear explanations, and a window of adjustment. Foster community rather than competition. Encourage collaborations, highlight shops doing great work, and celebrate creator successes. A strong, thriving community benefits everyone — including Zazzle itself. There’s still so much potential here, but it depends on making creators feel like true partners rather than replaceable suppliers. If that happens, loyalty, creativity, and growth will naturally follow. ... View more

It used to be that some of my sales were third-party sales. Now nearly every sale I make is listed as a third-party sale. For example, on Saturday I sold 50 pens for a total of $249.00. I have set my royalty at 10% (I always have and it’s a reasonable amount). So, instead of earning $24.00, I earned $13.00. Now that third-party sales seem to be attributed to nearly all of my sales, I am earning about 5% in royalties. When I set my royalty at 10%, I mean 10%, not 5%. Otherwise, what’s the purpose of setting my royalty? If Zazzle allows third-party sales (especially to this extent), then the third-party sellers’ and affiliate sellers’ 5% royalty needs to come out of Zazzle’s profit, not mine. When I set my royalty at 10%, I mean 10%—not 5% or some other random number.   ... View more

I just sold two decks of cards for $22.78. It was, of course, another third-party sale (that’s all I get now). My royalty rate is set at a reasonable 10%. I should have earned $2.78 cents. But instead I only received a paltry $1.25. How is this fair? How can anyone earn even a modest income at this rate? I am beyond frustrated, angry, and ready to throw in the towel. I’m tired of feeling cheated. ... View more

Hi Creators, First and foremost, we want to express our sincere gratitude for your valuable feedback and insights. We truly appreciate the time you’ve taken to submit your questions and feedback through our form regarding the updates to our Terms of Use, which are effective today, April 1st. We’ve carefully reviewed each of your questions and, based on your feedback, have put together a comprehensive Creator FAQ and Ambassador FAQ to help clarify the changes and provide more detail.  As we all know, the world around us is constantly evolving. Marketing costs are rising, and competition for Customer attention is higher than ever. In order to keep up with these changes and continue thriving together, we too must adapt and grow. We understand that change can be challenging, but it's essential for us to stay dynamic and align with the ever-evolving landscape. For almost 20 years, we’ve been proud to be a marketplace where Creators from all walks of life can sell their Content, and many have even built a sustainable income doing what they love. Creators are the heart and soul of our platform, and we truly appreciate the partnership we’ve built with all of you.  With the launch of our new Ambassador Program, we want to ensure that Creators who actively promote their Products and drive traffic are properly rewarded. The new program simplifies the Earnings model, ensures a fairer fee distribution, and aligns financial incentives with Creators’ success. Whether you’re actively promoting your Content or allowing us to handle it, we’re here to support your growth.  We’re hopeful about the new opportunities this opens up for you as a Creator. This update means you’ll have the chance to earn what we would pay those “other guys”—and we hope you see it as a way to grow your Earnings in meaningful ways.  To keep the discussion and questions for us organized, please reply below and we ask you to continue to submit your questions to the form. We also opened an “Ambassador Program” board for Creators to discuss specific topics together.  Once again, thank you for your continued contributions to our community. We can’t wait to see what the future holds as we continue to evolve together in our marketplace. Warmly, The Zazzle Team   UPDATE - 4/2/25 Hi Creators, We’ve heard some common questions that we’d like to address and clarify. We've added these questions to our FAQ and will be addressing more questions soon.  Why does it seem like the Excess Royalty is taken out twice for the Self-Promotion? Why am I being charged a Marketing Royalty Fee for Self-Promotion Sales? Why in some cases did I make more money in the Promoter 2.0 Program?  Q: Why does it seem like the Excess Royalty is taken out twice for the Self-Promotion example below?  Example 1: Self-Promotion Link (own Product) in Clothing & Shoes with Your Royalty Rate set at 12%  Product Price (= Net Referral Sales for this example): $100 Your Royalty Rate: 12% → $12 Gross Royalty Excess Royalty Fee: → 5% of $12 = $0.60 (applies because Your Royalty Rate is above 10%. The fee is 5% of your Gross Royalty)  Marketing Royalty Fee: → 35% of $12 = $4.20 (applies to all Referred Sales. For Clothing & Shoes, it's 35% of your Gross Royalty)  Royalty: → $7.20 (after deduction of Royalty Fees) Referral Commission for a Referred Sale via a Self-Promotion Link Department Rate: → 35% of Net Referral Sales (Clothing & Shoes) Self-Promotion Earnings Goal: → 35% of $100 is a $35 Goal. (from this $35 goal, you’ve already earned $7.20 in Net Royalties and the $0.60 Excess Royalty Fee applies) Referral Commission from Self-Promotion Link: → $35 - $7.20 - $0.60 = $27.20 Your Earnings = $34.40 ($7.20 paid via Royalty, $27.20 paid via Referral Commission). Note: Because Your Royalty Rate was above 10%, the Excess Royalty Fee slightly reduced the total Earnings you could have received from the Referred Sale via a Self-Promotion Link. A: If you look at Example 1, the Self-Promotion Earnings Goal is $35, and the Excess Royalty Fee is $0.60. Your Earnings are $34.40 ($35 - $0.60). So while we need to deduct the Excess Royalty Fee from the Gross Royalties to help calculate the Royalty - which we then use to calculate the Referral Commission by deducting it from the Self-Promotion Earnings Goal - it is more to do the math to figure out the amounts you’ve earned rather than actually being taken out twice. Q: Why am I being charged a Marketing Royalty Fee for Self-Promotion Sales? A: The Marketing Royalty Fee applies whenever a sale is referred, whether by you, another Ambassador, or Zazzle. This structure helps our systems run smoothly across all types of Referrals.  So in order to make sure your Earnings hit the Self-Promotion Earnings Goal (which is based on the Department Rate), we calculate your Referral Commission to make up the difference between the Self-Promotion Earnings Goal and your Royalty.  The math can be a little bit complicated, but the end result is the same - your Earnings for that sale do not change. Q: Why in some cases did I make more money in the Promoter 2.0 Program?  A: Promoter 2.0 was originally a "beta" program, and we're now expanding it to all Creators. The Ambassador Program is designed to serve a wider population of Creators, while reflecting current marketing costs, so while there were situations where former Promoters benefitted more, this new program is designed to benefit the whole Ambassador community more overall. ... View more

Hello, all.  I’m attempting to understand  the logic: if the idea is to reward creators for advertising their creations, why am I being charged a marketing fee? I do the work, but I’m charged a fee? But if no one does the work (“none”), there is no fee? I will submit a question via the form as well. I do not understand why there’s a marketing fee when I market my own products. I already pay for quite a few tools for this purpose, and I know some people pay for ads. ... View more

Why am I making less money when it is SELF referred instead of NONE?  When I sell a digital download with no referral I make $10.55 When I sell a digital download with 3rd party referral I make $5.00 When I sell a digital download with SELF referral I make $5.00 and then $.42 so $5.42 total. This is a mistake correct?  can someone from Zazzle please answer this? ... View more

Hi All, I've just tried to share a link as I always do (using the share option) and I notice the link is no longer coming with ?rf=. and our affiliate / ambassador link. Is this correct?   I know there has just been a change, but I wonder if we need to manual add the ?rf= now or this is just with issues during this transition period.  I am sure I am doing something wrong 😄 Thoughts? Cheers, Rachel ... View more

Hey everyone! I noticed that when I click on "Share" under one of my products and copy the link, my referral ID isn't included in the link. Is this something only I'm facing or is this happening for others too? I’ve double-checked that I’m logged into my account and my referral settings are enabled. Is there something I’m missing, or is this a bug on Zazzle’s end? Thanks in advance for any help! 😊 ... View more

Hi Creators - We’re updating to let you know that we are processing all of your questions and posts and another round of responses on our end will be coming early next week at the latest, if not sooner. In parallel, we are taking action on relevant requests that you’ve made for the system and will keep you posted on these within this area of the forums.  ... View more

Since the new TOS went into effect, I've been feeling a renewed grumpiness about having to help customers with their orders. I've long been a proponent of the "good karma" approach, figuring that assisting customers with designs might not pay off immediately, but that in the long run it will because even if I only make a few dollars on their purchase, it will bump the product up in the algorithm and that will in turn lead to more sales. But with the new system in place, my already small royalties are becoming so ridiculously small, that I'm really not feeling at all enthusiastic about helping customers in that way. There are customers that I've literally been working with for months to perfect their wedding designs, and it seems incredibly likely that in that time they will have picked up a 3rd party cookie somewhere, so when the order is finally placed I'll make practically nothing, despite the MANY hours I have devoted to helping them. Then suddenly today it occurred to me that when we create a direct only product for a customer, it really ought to count as a self-referral. I mean there is no way that they could even access a direct only design unless I sent them the link, so by definition, I have referred the customer to that product. It seems to me that crediting sales of direct only products as self-referrals would totally change the dynamic of the whole custom request situation, and it would be a fair and reliable system, unlike "cookie madness." At the VERY least, direct only products ought to be exempt from marketing fees.  ... View more

Not sure if that title makes sense or not, but I've been doing some promoting and sometimes I want to use a different view for the share link, which adds a parameter to the link like this: https://www.zazzle.com/rustic_purple_watercolor_roses_wedding_website_enclosure_card-256543704518477376?view=113643097329661494 Same thing when I'm promoting someone else's product: https://www.zazzle.com/boho_blush_burgundy_floral_green_gold_wedding_tapestry-256023259418239862?view=113462613225639812&rf=238780250923643573 Does this impact the referral in any way?   ... View more